


It's Never Getting Any Better Than This

by Synnerxx



Category: Metallica
Genre: 100 Drabble Challenge, Angst, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synnerxx/pseuds/Synnerxx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of 100 word drabbles dedicated to the relationship between James and Lars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. blue

**Author's Note:**

> there will be 100 of these 100 word drabbles. they're unrelated to one another, unless specifically noted. set generally in any era, but i will note which era i was thinking of though. updated every 10 drabbles.
> 
> prompt: blue  
> era: tba

Lars’s favorite color is blue. If you ask him why, he’ll rattle on about the sky or the sea or something like that, but the real reason is because James’s eyes are blue. They’re the color of the sky on a hot, summer day. They’re bright and expressive and Lars falls in love a little bit more every time he looks at them. He even loves them when they’re glaring at him, burning bright with anger. He loves them even when they’re hazy with alcohol. He’s sure that blue will always be his favorite color. He loves the color blue.


	2. sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: sunrise  
> era: babytallica

James sits on the balcony, watching the sunrise. Lars is asleep in room behind him, tangled up in the sheets. James isn’t sure that sleeping with Lars was the best thing for them right now or what’s going to happen when Lars wakes up. For now though, he’s content to sit on the balcony and watch the sun creep up behind the clouds, streaking them with pinks and purples and golds. He glances back into the room, smiling as Lars shifts in the bed, reaching out to his side, searching for him. He steps back inside, laying down with Lars.


	3. red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: red  
> era: tba (set specifically at the moscow show in sept. '91)

There’s red staining the white of Lars’s drum head. There’s red soaking through the white bandages on Lars’s hands. James stares at it, not comprehending that Lars had played while literally bleeding all over his kit. 

“Why didn’t you say something?” He asks, concerned eyes staring at Lars.

“Wasn’t going to stop the show. It’s not bad.” Lars shrugs and turns away, letting Kirk fawn over him and his hands. 

James frowns at Lars’s back, angry that Lars didn’t tell anyone about his hands until the show was done. “You should have told me.” He grumbles, sneering at Kirk’s fawning.


	4. sixth sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: sixth sense  
> era: tba

Sometimes James thinks it’s strange, the connection he has with Lars. It’s like they can read each other’s minds without even trying. A simple glance at Lars’s face lets him know what he’s thinking and what he’s feeling and how high his stress level is. He’s aware that no one else can read Lars when he doesn’t want them to, but he’s never had that problem before. 

He likes being the one that Lars turns to when there’s a problem, if he’s being honest. There’s just something about his and Lars’s connection that intrigues him, even if he denies it.


	5. air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: air  
> era: skom

Lars steps outside HQ, needing to take a break and get some fresh air. He almost touched James just then. James made him laugh and he almost reached out and rested his hand on James’s arm until he remembered that they don’t do that anymore. They don’t touch anymore.

“Hey, you okay?” James asks, startling Lars.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll be in in a second.” Lars mumbles, looking away from James. 

James watches him for a moment before nodding, closing the door behind him. 

Lars leans back against the building, letting out a shaky breath.

Something has to change soon.


	6. summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: summer  
> era: babytallica

James is definitely a child of summer. He loves going out on those long hot days and soaking in the heat of the day. He comes home at night, sunburned and smiling, hair tangled around his face. He climbs over Lars, grinning down at him as he holds himself up. Lars stirs under him, blinking up at him. James leans down and kisses Lars and Lars can taste the heat and the sun lingering on his lips.

James lays down against Lars, kissing him with more intensity as things begin to heat up between them. Summer is a great season.


	7. work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: work  
> era: skom

“All I’m saying is that a relationship shouldn’t feel like work. It shouldn’t feel like a fucking chore.” James snaps at Lars.

“What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?” Lars asks, folding his arms across his chest.

“I don’t know! Not what we’ve been doing.” James glares. 

“Maybe this isn’t working. Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” Lars sighs, dropping his arms.

“What?” James asks, startled.

“Maybe we should call it quits?” Lars looks up at James.

“Is that what you want?” James asks.

“No, but I don’t know what else to do.” Lars admits.


	8. intimacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: intimacy  
> era: post-skom/st anger

It takes James a long time to learn that sex isn’t the only way to be intimate with someone. The simple intimacy of laying in bed together, arms around the other person, is something he appreciates a lot more now. He almost lost it, almost lost Lars. 

The casual intimacy of sitting on the couch, watching tv with Lars’s head tucked against his shoulder and his arm around Lars is something he never wants to lose. The long year and a half that he didn’t have that made him ache and long for something he didn’t think he would miss.


	9. where

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: where  
> era: skom

Lars spends his days rattling around the empty house, wondering when James is going to come home or if he even is going to come home. He wonders where he is and if he even cares anymore. He wonders if James even thinks about him. He can’t seem to stop thinking about James. 

He gets through the days with Kirk and Phil and talking about his feelings and things he doesn’t give a shit about. He wants to know where James is, when he’s coming back, and what he’s been doing. He misses James more than he thought was possible.


	10. choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: choices  
> era: skom

James makes a series of choices after leaving rehab. He chooses not to move back in with Lars. He chooses to stay away from the band. He chooses to talk only to Kirk. He chooses to shut Lars out. He can tell himself that it’s for his own good, but he knows he’s punishing Lars. He’s shutting Lars out because he wants Lars to hurt and maybe that makes him a terrible person, but it’s not like Lars is a saint either.

It’s his life and these are his choices. He’s not going to apologize for them, not to anyone.


	11. strangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: strangers  
> era: skom

They feel like strangers now. Not even estranged friends. Not even acquaintances. They’re strangers. There’s a void between them where their friendship used to be. Where their relationship used to be. 

James can’t figure out how to get around it or across it. 

Lars acts like it doesn’t matter. He pretends it’s not there, that they’re Just Fine when they aren’t. 

They’re strangers in the same house, sharing the same bed. They pass each other in the hall and it’s like they don’t even see each other. 

Who would have thought the team of Lars and James would become this?


	12. months

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: months  
> era: skom

James goes to rehab and it shocks all of them, though maybe it really shouldn’t. It’s when the months go by and no one hears from him is when they worry. More months pass and then only Kirk hears from him. Lars refuses to admit it, but he’s angry and jealous and how selfish can James really be? Doesn’t he know how long it’s been since Lars has heard from him? Doesn’t he know that Lars has been watching the months pass and feeling like his life is on hold until James comes home? Lars guesses that James doesn’t care.


	13. drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: drink  
> era: skom

James stays away because he doesn’t want to be tempted. He doesn’t want to fall back down that rabbit hole of drinking again. And he knows that if he goes back to Lars too soon, he will. Not because Lars will ask him out to go drinking or offer it to him, but because they will fight and argue and James will want to turn to his favorite escape - alcohol. Lars knows how to get under his skin better than anyone else. That’s the problem they’ve always had. They’re too close to each other. He needs the distance between them.


	14. if

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: if  
> era: skom

Lars starts thinking in ‘what ifs’. What if James doesn’t come back? What if he never speaks to me again? What if this is the end of Metallica? What if he comes back and he’s someone new? What if he comes back and he doesn’t want me anymore? What if he comes back and he does still want me? There’s too many questions and not enough answers. Lars hates it; hates the uncertainty. 

He wants to hate James, but all he can muster up is anger for him. Because what if James doesn’t love him anymore? 

What does he do?


	15. who

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: who  
> era: babytallica

Lars knows James fucks Dave behind his back. He’s not stupid. He’s also sure James knows he does the same thing. Dave is vindictive and spiteful enough to tell him. Dave doesn’t care because Dave doesn’t care about anyone but himself. The difference though is that Lars doesn’t love Dave the way James loves Dave. They’re too alike for that to work.

Lars wishes that James loved him the way he loved James. He doesn’t expect James to love him the same way he loves Dave because he’s pretty sure Dave is his first love, but he wants something more.


	16. days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: days  
> era: modern

For a supposed couple, they can go days without speaking to each other or even seeing each other. When James fucks off to another city for weeks at a time, Lars isn’t stupid. He knows James is likely hooking back up with Dave and whatever people he’s been shacked up with this time. He lets James go and do whatever, hoping he’ll get it out of his system this time. He knows better though. James will keep trailing after Dave like a puppy left on the side of the road. Lars shakes his head and goes back to his work.


	17. beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: beginnings  
> era: modern

They’ve had so many beginnings and restarts and do overs laced with so many excuses over the years that Lars isn’t even sure how many times they’ve broken up and gotten back together. Not that it really matters, he supposes. As long as they always come back to each other, that’s all that matters, right? Lars tries to keep telling himself that, telling himself that it doesn’t matter how many times James runs back to Dave or whoever else as long as he comes back. They’ll start over again. It’ll be a new beginning. Just like all the other ones.


	18. lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: lovers  
> era: modern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> explicit drabble

Lars whimpers and gasps as James’ hands slide over his skin, goosebumps appearing in the wake of James’ clever fingers. He arches into James’ touch, needing more. James smirks against Lars’ chest, teeth tugging lightly at a nipple before he presses more kisses down the length of Lars’ torso. He avoids Lars’ throbbing cock, wanting to draw this out and make Lars feel so good for him. Lars’ fingers tangle in James’ hair, pulling a little, wanting James’ mouth on his cock as he writhes under him. James keeps up his delicious torture, knowing well what it does to Lars.


	19. years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: years  
> era: modern

Lars sits and watches James play his guitar, working on a riff for a new song, well familiar with James’ process. They’ve been doing this for years. Sometimes, Lars thinks they’ve been doing this for too long, thinks that maybe they should have retired long ago, but there’s just something unlike anything else when he’s in the studio with James. It’s when they’re at their best and their worst. They fight more, but they’re more creative, and when they do get along, everything just flows better than ever before. Lars wants many more years of this, watching James play guitar.


	20. star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: star  
> era: babytallica

James sits out on the table in the backyard, head tilted back. The ends of his hair brush against the wooden table top as he stares up at the sky. It’s a clear night and the stars are bright. Lars stumbles outside, still a little drunk, and drops down next to James.

“What are you lookin’ at, huh?” Lars asks, bumping his shoulder against James’.

“The stars.” James indicates them with a wave of the beer can in his hand.

“Why for?” Lars blinks up at the sky, laying on the table.

James doesn’t answer, laying down next to Lars.


End file.
